DAKAR, 13 April 2007 (IRIN) - DAKAR, 13 April 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS: SUDAN: Senegal government threatens Darfur troop pullout LIBERIA: Lassa fever returns as health sector crumbles COTE D'IVOIRE: Peace process moves ahead with talks on buffer zone MALI: Health workers fear deaths will continue GUINEA-BISSAU: New prime minister named NIGERIA: Jos voters angry and divided

SUDAN: Senegal government threatens Darfur troop pullout Senegal's government has threatened to pull out its 500-strong contingent currently serving as part of an African Union peacekeeping force in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur after five Senegalese soldiers were killed there earlier this month. "If the African Union does not have the means to assure accordingly the security of the contingents deployed on the ground, [the Senegalese government] can contemplate the withdrawal of its contingent," the Council of Ministers said in a communique on Wednesday. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71592

LIBERIA: Lassa fever returns as health sector crumbles Liberia's almost non-existent health and sanitation infrastructure was again brought into sharp focus this week as officials confirmed that Lassa fever, a virus transmitted by rats usually found in areas with poor sanitation, is endemic for the second time in six months in three Liberian counties. Liberia, which experienced a devastating 14-year civil war that ended in 2003, last registered Lassa fever outbreaks in September, mostly in Nimba County. Health officials said at the time they did not have the capacity to diagnose or treat the deadly disease but the outbreak ended after the Chinese Embassy stepped in with funds for medicines and testing kits. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71584

COTE D'IVOIRE: Peace process moves ahead with talks on buffer zone Cote d'Ivoire's nascent peace plan moved closer towards changing the situation on the ground on Wednesday as the government, rival armed groups and international peacekeepers agreed a schedule to dismantle the country's buffer zone. The demilitarised buffer, established in 2002 by the UN Security Council which ordered French troops and UN peacekeepers to separate fighting Ivorian army loyalists and rebels, has remained unmoved despite several previous deals to end the standoff. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71579

MALI: Health workers fear deaths will continue Every morning at the health centre in Koro, a sandy village 800km west of the Malian capital, Bamako, a motorbike briefly breaks the silence. "We are going to Segue Bengue as part of an advanced strategy," says Yaha Yanali proudly, balancing packets of mosquito nets on the back of the motorbike before she climbs onto the seat. "We go out each morning from here because there are 41 villages in the zone that we must cover." http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71569

GUINEA-BISSAU: New prime minister named The president of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo 'Nino' Vieira, has named a new prime minister after three weeks of political uncertainty stemming from the national assembly's passage of a no-confidence motion against the former premier, a long-time ally of Vieira. The president named Martinho N'Dafa Cabi, a vice president of the former ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde. He replaces Aristides Gomes.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71568

NIGERIA: Jos voters angry and divided The cool climate high up in the rocky outcrops of central Nigeria made this city a favourite destination for the former British administrators. In the early years after independence it was affluent with tin mining and cosmopolitan as the crossroads between Nigeria's Christian south and Muslim north. But those days are long gone. Today Jos, capital of Plateau State, is economically depressed, religiously divided and ready to explode. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71232

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